Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (6/67)

Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-ṢāliḥīnIbn al-'Uthaymin

great awe: “If you had looked at them, you would have turned away from them in flight and been filled with terror” (Q 18:18). Your body would flee while your heart would quake, so that no one would dare hover near them and wake them. Allah thus honored them, and the miracles granted to the Companions of the Cave are many. For now we shall confine ourselves to this, and—God willing—return to the rest in another lesson. We ask Allah, exalted be He, to make us and you among His honored friends; truly He has power over all things.

And the Exalted One says: “And now that you have withdrawn from them and from whatever they worship other than Allah, take refuge in the cave; your Lord will spread for you something of His mercy and will facilitate your affair with ease. You would have seen the sun, when it rose, veer away from their cave to the right, and when it set, pass them by on the left” (Q 18:16–17).

Allah, the Most High, also says: “And now that you have withdrawn from them and from whatever they worship other than Allah, take refuge in the cave; your Lord will spread for you something of His mercy and will facilitate your affair with ease. You would have seen the sun, when it rose, veer away from their cave to the right, and when it set, pass them by on the left” (Q 18:16–17).

[Explanation]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—mentions in his book Riyad al-Salihin, within the chapter on the miracles and merits of the saints, several verses that speak of such divine favors. Among them is the story of the Companions of the Cave: a group of young men who believed in Allah, withdrew from their people, and left their town. Allah prepared for them a cave—a wide cavern in the mountain—into which they entered, and He cast sleep upon them so that they slept for 309 years. During that entire period they needed neither food nor drink, nor did their bodies suffer harm. Allah would turn them to the right and to the left, and this was among His honors to them, for He provided them with a safe abode—even to the point that Allah says

المهابة العظيمة ﴿لو اطلعت عليهم لوليت منهم فرارا ولملئت منهم رعبا﴾ لوليت منهم فرارا ببدنك ولملئت منهم رعبا بقلبك القلب يفزع والبدن يهرب لأن لا يحوم أحد حولهم فيوقظهم لكن الله ﷿ أكرمهم بهذا وكرامات أصحاب الكهف كثيرة نقتصر منها على هذا ونذكر إن شاء الله الباقي في درس آخر نسأل الله تعالى أن يجعلنا وإياكم من أوليائه المكرمين إنه على كل شيء قدير وقال تعالى ﴿وإذ اعتزلتموهم وما يعبدون إلا الله فأووا إلى الكهف ينشر لكم ربكم من رحمته ويهيئ لكم من أمركم مرفقا وترى الشمس إذا طلعت تزاور عن كهفهم ذات اليمين وإذا غربت تقرضهم ذات الشمال﴾ قال الله تعالى ﴿وإذ اعتزلتموهم وما يعبدون إلا الله فأووا إلى الكهف ينشر لكم ربكم من رحمته ويهيئ لكم من أمركم مرفقا وترى الشمس إذا طلعت تزاور عن كهفهم ذات اليمين وإذا غربت تقرضهم ذات الشمال﴾ [الشَّرْحُ] ذكر المؤلف رحمه الله تعالى في كتابه رياض الصالحين في باب كرامات الأولياء وفضلهم عدة آيات تشتمل على كرامات الأولياء ومنها قصة أصحاب الكهف وكانوا فتية آمنوا بالله واعتزلوا قومهم وخرجوا من بلدهم فهيأ الله لهم كهفا يعني غارا واسعا في الجبل فدخلوا فيه فألقى الله عليهم النوم فناموا ٣٠٩ سنة وهم نائمون لم يحتاجوا إلى أكل ولا شرب ولم تتأثر أبدانهم وكان الله تعالى يقبلهم ذات اليمين وذات الشمال وهذه من كرامات الله لهم أن الله تعالى هيأ لهم مقرا آمنا حتى إن الله يقول